Solo Exhibitions (Brief)

Her major solo exhibitions include 《I want to buy unseen eyes》(MASSIMODECARLO, Hong Kong, 2024), 《Access》(MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris, 2023), 《COMBO》 (Whistle, Seoul, 2021), 《PLOTLESS》 (Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul, 2021), 《Kyka Foretold…》 (SeMA Storage, Seoul, 2021), 《Teeth on Tail》 (OCI Museum of Art, Seoul, 2018), 《Circle to Oval》 (Project Space Sarubia, Seoul, 2017), and more. 

Group Exhibitions (Brief)

She has participated in group exhibitions at institutions such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Gwacheon, 2021), DOOSAN Gallery (Seoul, 2019), HITE Collection (Seoul, 2018), Hakgojae Gallery (Seoul, 2018), and Platform-L Contemporary Art Center (Seoul, 2016).

Awards (Selected)

Hejum Bä has also been an artist-in-residence at the MMCA Residency Goyang (2020) and Seoul Art Space Geumcheon (2019).

Collections (Selected)

Her works are part of the collection of the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Originality & Identity

Hejum Bä places recognition of the contemporary visual-perceptual environment and the dynamics of sensory experience at the core of her artistic inquiry. While her earlier works explored how abstract forms could be evoked through observations of real-world objects, her practice gradually shifted toward expressing the stream of thought itself—rather than representing specific subjects—through the language of painting.

In her solo exhibition 《Circle to Oval》(Project Space Sarubia, 2017), the work Of Sticking to the Ground(2012–2017) demonstrates the mental flow through which images are formed within today’s media landscape. For the artist, painting becomes a plane of thought that records not only bodily movement but also the passage of time and the movement of the mind.

This artistic position becomes even more clearly articulated in her recent solo exhibition 《I want to buy unseen eyes》(MASSIMODECARLO Hong Kong, 2024). The artist transforms the sensory experiences of individuals living in the digital age—especially the flood of images consumed unconsciously and their internal repercussions—into painting.

In particular, works such as A Bitcoiner’s Hope(2024) and Heavy Swipe to Unlock(2024) address emotions, anxieties, and hopes shaped within today’s media structures. Bä places emphasis not on visible imagery, but on changing sensory structures and emotional responses. Through her practice of translating these into abstraction, she reconstructs the meaning and responsive mechanism of contemporary painting.

Style & Contents

In 《Circle to Oval》, the artist experimented with form by incorporating materials such as murals, plywood, and steel plates in addition to canvas, deconstructing the conventional display grammar of painting exhibitions.

Since 2018, her work has shown a stronger tendency toward abstraction through color fields, in contrast to earlier pieces that subtly depicted organic forms. In Traveling between Stairs(2018), exhibited in 《Teeth on Tail》(OCI Museum of Art, 2018), she arranges images reminiscent of paper and color blocks to create illusions of motion across the canvas. The artist gives shape and structure to formless thoughts, developing a language where color fields and brushwork embody the flow of thought itself.

Her recent works are even more closely aligned with contemporary media environments that mimic the sense of a digital screen. In 《I want to buy unseen eyes》, pieces such as An Affirmation(2024) and An Uplifting Painting(2024) translate the currently popular trend of affirmations—repeated positive statements prevalent on platforms like social media—into critical visual meditations. These works employ strong complementary color contrasts, simplified compositions, and distinct display techniques (e.g., presenting the canvas upside-down to create an inverted “swipe-up” pattern), delivering emotional weight and sensory dissonance to viewers familiar with digital aesthetics. In doing so, Bä demonstrates that painting can serve not only as a visual medium but also as a tool for emotional and cognitive engagement.

Topography & Continuity

Since the beginning of her career, Hejum Bä has consistently explored “the movement of thought” and “the structuring of images.” Her practice removes or blurs identifiable forms and reconfigures the gaps between sensation, language, and materiality into a painterly syntax.

In 《Form/less》(Whistle, 2019) and 《PLOTLESS》(Kumho Museum of Art, 2021), she repeatedly revisited the structural logic of abstraction, experimenting with the compositional potential of visual language. These exhibitions reflect her foundational question about perceptual modes and reaffirm the potential of painting as a site for conceptual engagement.

Such artistic development contributes to reestablishing the position of painting in the digital age. Bä’s works dismantle conventional frameworks of representation while continuing to organize thought and provoke relationships through the pictorial surface. By triggering dissonance between sensation and information through motion, color, and composition, her paintings raise essential questions about sensory autonomy and the value of painterly practice in an era of image saturation. She is increasingly recognized in the global art world as an artist who investigates the threshold between digital perception and material abstraction.